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PGA Champions Tour’s Legends To Compete This Week On
ELGA-Ranked Best Overall And Private National Golf Course
In The Country: The Old Course At Broken Sound Club
With Broken Sound Club(BSC) “setting the course” as home to the PGA Champions Tour’s
season opener for the 11th consecutive year, the Allianz Championship’s full-field roster of
golf legends will be competing what has been ranked as the 2016 ELGA Best Overall and
Private National Course in the country. More than 70,000 spectators are expected on-site
at The Old Course at Broken Sound to follow last year’s defending champion Esteban
Toledo and other PGA favorites including Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, John Daly, Jose
Maria Olazabal and David Toms as they vie for the $1.6 million purse and the tournament
event benefits Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
In January BSC, a 5-Star Platinum Club of America, was selected as the Overall and National
Private recipient of the 2017 Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards (ELGA).
The annual award rankings are presented annually by the Golf Course Superintendents
Association of America (GCSAA) and Golf Digest in partnership with Syngenta and Rain Bird’s
Golf Division. The private, gated golf and country club community was as the only Florida or
Southeastern U.S.-based award winner this year at the national or international leader level.
BSC, its two Audubon Sanctuary and GEO Certified golf courses and Golf Course
Maintenance Director and Environmental Consultant Shannon Easter will be recognized
during championship tournament week at the Opening Session at the 2017 Golf Industry
Show and featured in upcoming issues of Golf Digest and GCSAA’s magazine Golf Course
Management.
Awardees are selected by an independent panel of judges representing national
environmental groups, turfgrass experts, university researchers and valued members of the
golf industry to recognize golf course superintendents and their courses for overall course
management excellence and best management practices. Such practices include areas
of water conservation, water quality management, energy conservation, pollution
prevention, waste management, wildlife and habitat conservation, communication and
outreach and leadership. In addition to the national winners, 19 chapter and nine merit
winners were chosen from GCSAA’s 98 affiliated chapters.
“We are excited to deliver to the PGA Champions Tour the best national private golf course
for this year’s tournament,” notes BSC GM and COO John Crean, CCE. “We always strive to
drive the best for our members and tournament players, and this ELGA recognition confirms
that we at Broken Sound Club are leaders in golf experience underscored in sustainability.
When other clubs and course management teams across the country were hesitant, and
some resistant, to embracing our trailblazing eco-vision to be ‘greener on the greens’, we
are pleased that many are now following suit.”
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PGA Champions Tour’s Legends To Compete On Best Overall/Private National Course/2/2/2/2
BSC’s sustainability mission and efforts through the on-course stewardship of its
Maintenance Director and Environmental Consultant Shannon Easter has significantly
reduced chemical inputs for the past three years at the Club's 36-hole facilities by
eliminating proactive treatment and raising thresholds for treatments only
tended “as necessary”. Such eco-strategy has created both a welcome habitat for native
wildlife, including several endangered species and a healthier environment for
club members and golfers.
During Allianz Championship Media Day, defending champion Esteban Toledo gave
sustainability and playability accolades to Crean, saying it is “fantastic what you at Broken
Sound Club are doing” noting he ranked The Old Course greens as “one of his top three in
the whole [2016] season.”
BROKEN SOUND CLUB: WHERE AVID GOLFERS LIVE AND PLAY
The Only Private “Two Golf Club” Residential Community In Florida
Teeing up The Old Course as a “pure” golf experience environment, its designer Joe Lee
noted, “This is the most peaceful setting I’ve ever worked in the middle of one of the fastest
growing areas in the country. The only sound that broke the silence was the sound of a golfer
swinging his club.“ Hence the name, Broken Sound, was created.
Those who play the eminent course discover the natural beauty of South Florida at its best
through a landscape of woods, stone bridges, lakes and lagoons for an experience
reminiscent of courses in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Generous rolling fairways, elevated
greens, sculpted bunkers and an abundance of trees unique to South Florida are all
incorporated into this 18-hole Joe Lee designed classic that tees up 110 acres of grass, the
largest stand of natural Florida maple trees in the county, and 30-40 acres of lakes. Gene
Bates’s 2002 renovation gave the 6,800-yard, par-72 course more water, while infusing a look
very uncharacteristic of South Florida golf courses.
Tucked away in an oak-lined setting just a few minutes from Broken Sound Club’s gates,
The Old Course is a golfer’s sanctuary with the camaraderie and ambiance found in a
traditional golf club in an unexpected private place. Members will say the limited
membership to this course is as much a family as a private club.
The shapes of the ragged edges and design of the bunkers give it an Old World feel from
the early 1920s and 1930s. Consistent and fast while also looking healthy, the course has a
beautiful natural look with many native grasses. There are no concrete cart paths, only
those made of natural coquina shell.
According to BSC Old Course Golf Director Jeff Waber, “Every hole is unique and looks
completely different. It is located in the middle of the City, has no homes and resembles
a northern look that is very untypical of Florida.” He adds that golfers who look for a
challenge, whether it's the Club player or members of the Champions Tour, The Old
Course presents that challenge with a group of par-3s that rival any throughout Florida.
It’s a course with island greens that test all handicap levels.
“Golf purists love the intimacy they find here,” has noted Old Course member Phil Karp
who moved from New York with his wife Paula over 20 years ago. “It’s a rarity in southern
Florida to have a private course and not find a single home on the golf course. When
you add in a world-class range and practice area, this is a golfer’s dream.”
PGA Champions Tour’s Legends To Compete On Best Overall/Private National Course/3/3/3/3
“Member experience, quality facilities, environmental enhancement and
sustainability development continue to remain central to our business model for
many years,” acknowledged John Crean, CCE, BSC General Manager and Chief
Operating Officer, a recognized country club industry champion and avid steward of
sustainability. “Securing the ELGA ranking and continuing to retain our GEO and
Audubon Sanctuary recertification, our recent investment in The Old Course and
enhancing its amenities all are testament to that commitment.”
BSC is located at 2401 Willow Springs Drive, Boca Raton, FL. For Club membership, contact
Membership Director Maureen Schreiber at (561) 241-6800 or visit www.brokensoundclub.org.
About Broken Sound Club: Whatever one’s passion or interest…their active enviable
home life, business life, sporting life, and social life complement each other perfectly at
BSC. Known as the “friendly” club for its signature blend of warmth, elegance and
genuine hospitality, this award-winning private gated golf and country club community
offers a choice of 27 lushly landscaped intimate residential villages, each with its own
character. All are just minutes away from its main clubhouse with indoor/outdoor dining,
two signature golf courses, a two-acre $6 million poolscape with bistro, a $7 million
35,000-square-foot spa and fitness center and 23 tennis courts. Close to two international
airports and private Boca Raton Executive Airport, BSC is a few miles from pristine
beaches, Boca’s burgeoning Class A office parks, a vibrant Downtown, A-rated public
and award-winning private schools, two universities, FAU Stadium, world-class shopping,
dining, culture, recreation and nightlife.
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